


In the land of mystics

by chick_with_wifi



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Pirate, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-10-02 07:54:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10213019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chick_with_wifi/pseuds/chick_with_wifi
Summary: All Captain Shaw wanted was to find a stream from which to get water for her crew. She most certainly didn't want to be attacked by a troll, encouter a crazy but highly capable woman with magic powers and find out that the forest has intentions of its own. But oh well. These things happen.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Available in Chinese here, kindly translated by halfsnow: http://banyunmoxue367.lofter.com/post/1e7445b7_eb71e34

Root sits in the forest, by herself, every day and plays the piano. Sometimes a hiker or person walking their dog will approach and ask her, “what are you doing?” or “why are you doing that?”, and always she will reply, “I am playing. I am singing the forest to sleep.”

Her delicate, graceful fingers never stop dancing over the keys of the piano and gently coax out the sweetest of melodies. When she speaks her voice is equally melodic, the sound of her words perfectly matching the chords played.

“I am singing the forest to sleep.”

One morning an old woman, walking stick in one hand and the leash of her dog in the other journeyed through the forest. When she heard the music, she stopped and closed her eyes to listen with a faint smile on her face. The dog paused too and began to wag his tail against the woman’s leg.

Leaning down to pet him the woman said, “Do you like that, Bear? I only ever heard this tune once before. When I was a teenager.”

She carried on walking for a little while until she came to the clearing where Root was sitting at her piano.

The old woman blinked and tried to focus her cloudy eyes on the figure sat before her. “It can’t be…Root?”

The piano player’s hands fell to her sides.

One last note echoed around the trees then slowly died out.

And, for the first time in hundreds of years, the forest was silent.

“Hanna,” the pianist whispered. “It’s really you. I can’t believe it.”

Root stood and hugged her friend tightly. “I thought I would never see you again.”

When Root released her, Hanna held her at arm’s length and took a closer look at her friend. “It’s been nearly sixty years and you haven’t aged a day. Why…how?”

“It’s kind of a long story,” Root replied.

“After I went to be trained as a healer, people said you left town and nobody had heard from you again,” Hanna said. “What happened?”

“Without you there to protect me I got into a lot of fights,” Root explained. “At one point it looked like I was going to lose, then next thing I knew the guy had been turned into a frog. And that’s how I found out I am a mystic.”

“You’re…you’re a mystic?”

“So I left town and started making a name for myself as a mystic-for-hire. Turns out that line of work is surprisingly well-paid and I’m good at it.

“But one job went wrong and an ogre cursed me to be confined to this forest, playing the piano so none of the creatures lurking here would wake up. Speaking of creatures…”

Somewhere in the distance footsteps shook the ground and Root glanced around fearfully. 

“The forest is waking up.”

-

The salty spray from the sea stung the graze on Shaw’s cheek as she stood on the bow of her ship. Frustration was etched into the lines on her forehead and the corners of her mouth and her eyes flashed with cold resolve.

Her breaking point had been reached, shot and dashed to pieces.

Every few seconds the blast of a canon ripped through the silence and disrupted the steady swaying of the ship.

The enemy wasn’t close enough to do any real damage; they were just trying to scare her.

It wasn’t working.

The enemy vessel was approaching at an unnatural pace, slicing through the water fast enough to cause waves to claw at its helm.

Shaw was beginning to suspect they might have a mystic on board, which would cause real trouble for her crew. 

A blast hit the side of the ship closest to her, exploding it into shards that flew out in every direction then gently floated down to the deck like innocent flakes of snow.

“Blast,” she muttered, eyeing the gaping hole and cannon ball rolling mockingly across the deck towards her.

The enemy vessel was only about a ship’s length away from them now, there had to be something supernatural involved. It couldn’t be a mystic, though, because they were just a myth.

She could see the crew of The Samaritan strutting about on deck in their ridiculous fancy getups.

Then she grabbed the gun out of her boot and took aim at the captain of the opposing ship’s hat. “That’s for the damage,” she said as she fired, keeping perfectly steady despite the gun’s rebound in her hand.

“Captain!” called first mate John as he ran out onto the deck. “We are under siege!”

“Thank you, John,” Shaw replied calmly. “I had noticed.”

“Captain!” Zoe called as she also raced across the deck, tripping over a stray chunk of wood from the starboard helm and nearly falling overboard before John caught her.

“Ugh what now,” Shaw muttered under her breath. “Can’t a person terrorise the enemy in peace?”

“Sorry to disturb you, captain,” said Zoe. “Since you look very busy. I just wanted to say that Lionel spotted some land nearby we could stop at to replenish our supplies.”

“What sort of land?”

“A forest.” 

-

“Stupid forest,” grumbled Shaw as she trekked through the closely crowded trees and dense undergrowth in search of a stream to fill her canteen from. 

She knew, logically, that trees needed water to grow but that didn’t seem to be the case here. It was weirdly silent as well, don’t forests normally have animals and stuff?

Gradually she noticed the ground losing density as her boots sunk into the mud and heard the rushing of a stream somewhere ahead of her.

Finally. Then she could get out of there for good.

It was starting to give her the creeps in a weird somebody-breathing-down-your-neck way.

She found a clear stream and bent to fill her both canteen and her spare from it, as they would need all the supplies they could get for the coming journey. 

Underneath the surface of the crystal clear water she could see a few little minnows darting away from her.

Wait, not away from _her_.

Away from the giant ogre whose reflection had just appeared in the water looming over her. 

Well that’s just grand, thought Shaw in annoyance

She turned towards the ogre while drawing her sword then swung at him with all her might

Maybe not her best idea since he was three times her size in every possible dimension.

He grabbed her sword by the blade and snapped it like a toothpick, throwing the end away into the bushes.

Shaw racked her brains, trying to think if she had ever fought an ogre before.

She hadn’t, and didn’t know anyone who had done so and lived to tell the tale. So she wasn’t filled with confidence. At least she didn’t get scared, which the ogre wouldn’t be expecting.

She ducked and used her size to her advantage, dodging his blows and scurrying out of his way as fast as she could, hoping to tire him out.

But she couldn’t keep this up forever and no doubt the ogre was getting impatient.

She was about to shove the remainder of her sword into his foot and make a run for it when a soft, high-pitched voice called out, “Hey Rockface!”. The ogre slowly turned towards the voice. “Yeah you! Pick on someone your own size! Or better yet don’t pick on anybody at all, but it’s not my place to tell you how to live your life.”

The ogre tilted his head in confusion and stared at the woman.

So Shaw did too.

From what Shaw could see she was quite pretty: slim and tall, wearing a thick old-fashioned black cloak with the hood up that hid everything except her face that was sporting a nervous smile.

The woman’s graceful hands emerged from her cloak and made a few intricate movements that conjured up a ball of blue light between her palms.

“This’ll teach you to go attacking innocent people,” she said as she threw the ball of light right at the ogre’s face.

It stunned him and he stumbled backwards, rubbing at his eyes. Then lost his footing and fell into the stream.

The mysterious woman ran over and grabbed Shaw by the hand, pulling her away.

“We need to run. That will only have stunned him and, when he recovers, he really won’t be a happy camper.”

Together they ran as fast as they could, waiting nervously for the thundering footsteps that were sure to follow them.

“This way!” the woman yanked Shaw’s hand and dragged her into a camouflaged entrance to a cave that Shaw hadn’t noticed. “We’ll be safe here. For the moment.”

Shaw sat next to the woman and looked around, but it was too dark to make anything out.

The woman gathered up some twigs and leaves, then snapped her fingers and a fire crackled to life.

“So you’re a mystic,” Shaw said.

The woman smiled. “What gave it away? Was it my keen fashion sense?” she gestured to the long cloak, and then took off the hood. Beautiful dark curls fell about her shoulders, and the fire reflected in her eyes and lit up golden flecks in them.

“More the whole producing fire by magic thing,” said Shaw. “But I didn’t think there were mystics any more. At least, I’ve never met one until today.”  
The woman looked at the fire sadly. “We’re getting fewer and fewer as the world develops. People don’t want magic anymore, they just want new inventions that can make them rich and don’t rely on other people. Or so I’ve heard.”

Her voice took on a harder edge and Shaw asked, “What do you mean?”

“For the past sixty years I was cursed to play the piano and prevent the monsters in the forest from waking up. Then I stopped, which is the reason for all of this.” she waved at their surroundings. “So I’m not really up to date on current events.”

Shaw stood up, and the woman looked at her in confusion.

“Hey, you have powers and I’m fairly badass myself, so why not just make a run for it and head for my boat. My crew and I can help you defeat all the monsters in your forest using our weapons and stuff, and in return you can sail with us and help us put a stop to the Samaritan’s reign of terror.”

The woman smiled and held out her hand. “Root.”

“Excuse me?”

“That’s my name. Root.”

“Shaw. Captain Shaw.” she shook Root’s hand and the deal was made.

-

“Alright.” Shaw swept a layer of dried mud into the cave, ignoring Root’s wince as she dirtied the floor, and spread it out in a large circle.

“This is where we are now.” She used a twig to draw an oval that represented the cave. “This is where my ship is docked.” she added a little squiggly line to represent the river, then another for the coast and added a ship with a little sail on it. “We need to get from here to there without being eaten, and there doesn’t seem to be a direct route.”

Root frowned at the diagram and motioned for Shaw to hand over the twig. 

She did so with minimal eyerolling.

Then Root waved her hands over the mud and it morphed into a detailed map of the entire forest, complete with individual trees and blue glowing dots to represent the monsters.

“You couldn’t have done that before?” Shaw demanded.

Root shrugged. “I liked watching you work.”

Then she pointed with the twig to two yellow dots inside the cave. “These are us. If we go around to the east,” she waved two fingers and the yellow dots left the cave, moving in an arc around the side of the forest, “then there will be fewer monsters since we are on the border and they can’t stray too far from the middle of the forest. Sadly, we will be more exposed to other dangers. But I doubt bandits will give us the same trouble as monsters.”

Shaw nodded slowly. “Yeah, ok. That isn’t completely crazy. But if you get us killed I will haunt you for the rest of your days.”

Root smiled. “Don’t make promises you won’t keep.”

A pair of heavy footsteps approached the cave and Root’s eyes widened. She passed her hand over the fire.

Shaw was about to grab her wrist to stop her from getting burned when the fire disappeared, not leaving so much as a wisp of smoke. 

Then Root held a finger to her lips and pulled Shaw to the back of the cave, pressing them both into the wall with her body.

A pair of large feet passed in front of the mouth of the cave and stopped.

Shaw could hear Root’s breath catch in her throat, and they were so close together could almost feel the other woman’s heart beating.

The second stretched out into an eternity.

Then the giant moved away.

Root let out a slow, relieved breath but didn’t move.

“You can let go now,” Shaw said.

Root apologised and released her, taking her time.

“I say we go now before there is another incident,” Root said.

Shaw nodded and followed her out into the forest.

They managed a few paces before a small, ugly goblin leapt out of a pile of bushes.

Shaw’s hand instantly went for what remained of her sword – which she didn’t like the chances of against a magical creature – but Root stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

Root opened her hand and a flame appeared in her palm, which she took aim and threw at the goblin.

It flew through the air and hit the ground by the goblin’s feet, bursting into a column of flames.

“You got any other powers that could save our asses you wanna let me know about?” asked Shaw.

Root hummed. “We’ll see.” She began walking forward and counting her paces, muttering under her breath.

“That’s not an answer,” Shaw called after her, jogging to catch up with Root’s long legged strides.

Root carried on talking to herself, mostly nonsensical rubbish, and Shaw thought: as long as she doesn’t start talking to any trees we’ll be fine.

Oh wait she is.

Of course this crazy annoying woman talks to trees.

Sixty years in this forest it’s no wonder she’s loopy.

Shaw had been there less than an hour and was already beginning to doubt herself.

“Fee fi fo fum,” said a deep voice, accompanied by vibrations of the ground made by stomps. It was a cyclops. Twice the size of ogres and ten times as fierce.

Shaw didn’t dare turn round, opting to stare steadfastly ahead and hope the cyclops would just go away.

A slim hope but her only chance at the moment.

“Uh, Root,” she said hesitantly. “Any chance your tree has advice on dealing with cyclopes?”

Root, meanwhile, had one hand on the tree trunk and was speaking to it quietly. Then she removed her hand with a flourish and there was an almighty creak as the tree slowly fell. Directly onto the cyclops.

“Did you just fell a tree onto him?” asked Shaw, something akin to impressed.

Maybe this woman wasn’t as mad as Shaw had first thought.

Root nodded and stroked another nearby tree. “The forest and I have an…intimate connection.”

Maybe Shaw had been a little hasty in changing her opinion. “Whatever. You think you can get us out of here in one piece?”

“You haven’t died yet, have you?” Root began walking again and gestured for Shaw to keep up.

Shaw rolled her eyes. “You just fill me with confidence,” she deadpanned.

“But you haven’t died. Not one single time!”

Shaw didn’t even dignify that with a response, even though Root seemed to be kind of enjoying all the excitement.

“Wait.” Root froze and leant to produce a dagger out of one of her boots. 

Then, without turning around, threw it behind her with pinpoint accuracy.

It whistled past Shaw’s temple and landed with a thunk in something solid.

Shaw slowly turned and saw that it had been a troll.

She looked back at Root who had turned to face her and was smiling. “Trust me.”

Shaw shook her head. “I wouldn’t trust you to pour water out of a boot with instructions on the heel.” she paused. “But your skills are very impressive, so let’s go before…”

Shaw trailed off and looked at her surroundings. They were changing before her very eyes. Shifting, morphing, shadows dancing in and out of them.

“It’s the forest’s way of trying to keep us here,” said Root. She raised her voice to address her surroundings, “it won’t work.”

Her last syllable echoed back and forth, slowly becoming mocking laughter.

“Root?” Shaw asked uncertainly

“We close our eyes. They can’t manipulate what we aren’t looking at.” 

She held out her hand for Shaw to take, but Shaw hesitated. “How am I supposed to know where I’m going?”

“You won’t need to.”

Shaw gave in and took Root’s hand and they closed their eyes.

Root guided them both forwards with assured steps. “The forest will direct us,” she said with certainty.

With every step Shaw took she expected to pitch off a cliff or smack into a tree, but she didn’t.

“We’re here,” Root announced eventually as the ground changed back to sand beneath her feet.

Shaw opened her eyes and was greeted by the familiar sight of her ship. She had never been happier to see the Indigo.

If she were a lesser woman she might have kissed the stem.

But she didn’t.

Instead she called to her crew, “What are you losers playing at? Throw down the ladder!”

Zoe poked her head over the side. “Sorry, captain. We thought something might have happened to you!”

“A fair few things did, but you won’t hear about any of them unless you throw down the blasted ladder!”

A second later, a worn rope ladder was tossed over the side and Shaw and Root used it to climb up.

As soon as they were onboard, John hauled it back after them.

A ladder made it more difficult for enemies to board, so that was the method they always used.

“Are you alright, captain?” asked carter. “And who is this?”

“I’m fine, thank you. And this is Root my….person.”

Root bit her bottom lip to try and hide her smirk, but Shaw caught it.

“She’s going to help us against the Samaritan, as soon as we blast this forest to kingdom come.”

“Excuse me?” asked Carter in surprise

“You heard me. Get on the cannons fire away. Add a little extra boom if you have to.”

“Well, you have your orders,” carter said. “Get on it.” Shaw started to walk away. “Captain, where are you going?”

“Below decks for some food. Root looks like she’s been living off berries for sixty years.”

“I’ll be right down,” Root said. “I just want to watch this forest burn.”


End file.
